President Bola Tinubu has appealed to justices of the Presidential Election Petition Court (PREPEC) in Abuja to exclude the presidential candidate of the Labour Party (LP), Peter Obi, in the event of any rerun presidential election, claiming that only he and the candidate of the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP), Alhaji Atiku Abubakar, are constitutionally qualified to recontest.
Tinubu argued that if the justices void the February 25, 2023, presidential election, Obi and his party will not be qualified to recontest.
Obi’s counsel, counteracting, urged the five-member panel of the PREPEC not to subvert the will of the people as expressed in the February 25 presidential election, stressing that they should sack Tinubu without further delay.
Tinubu faulted both Obi and LP for asking the court to cancel the election and compel the Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC) to conduct a fresh poll in which he (Tinubu), Shettima, and the All Progressives Congress (APC) would not participate.
He argued that should the relief be granted, Obi and LP would not derive any benefit, as they have been constitutionally barred from contesting the rerun election.
President Tinubu’s arguments were contained in his final written address in response to the petition of Obi and the LP challenging his declaration as president.
Prof. Mahmood Yakubu, the INEC chairman had on March 1, declared Tinubu the winner of the February 25 presidential election with 8,794,726 votes while Atiku and Obi reportedly scored 6,984,520 votes and 6,101,533 votes, respectively.
Both Obi and Atiku are laying claim to victory because each of them scored a majority of lawful votes cast at the poll. Alternately, they urged the court to order a re-run election to decide the authentic winner of the poll.
However, Tinubu said that:
“In the very unlikely event that the election of February 25, 2023, is voided, the only candidates constitutionally prescribed to contest any subsequent election shall be the 2nd respondent and the candidate of the PDP who came second, by scoring the next majority of votes in the highest number of states (19 states)
